Simulated video game channel

ABSTRACT

Simulated video game channel systems and methods are disclosed that allows users to connect their video game consoles to a device, such as a set-top box, and to then connect over a gaming channel that is identified by an electronic programming guide (EPG). Both audiovisual broadcast content channels and video game channels are displayed on the same integrated EPG. An individual may either watch the video game action or participate in the video game. A video game channel may be either public, viewable by all service provider subscribers, or private, viewable to only a subset of subscribers. The system also analyzes the video gaming habits of the user to determine recommendations for audiovisual broadcast content and video on demand content to present to the user.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of video game entertainment,and in particular, to a service that allows multiple video game playersto share video game play over a video game channel that is identified inan electronic programing guide.

Description of the Related Art

Video gaming systems that provide video game players with the abilityfor single-user or multi-user gameplay include systems such as MicrosoftXbox, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo Wii. Examples of games that may beplayed are action games such as Mortal Kombat or Doom; role-playinggames including real-time strategy games such as RuneScape, World ofWarcraft and Halo; sports games like NCAA Football, or Madden football;simulation games like Second Life and the Sims series; and others. Inaddition to playing these games on dedicated systems, they may also beplayed by users on Smartphones, hand-held gaming devices, laptops,tablets or desktop computer systems.

These video gaming systems may also be interconnected with other systemsto allow multiple users to experience multiplayer game play remotelywith other users. Examples include the Microsoft Xbox LIVE™ system andSony Entertainment Network that allow players to connect with each otherwhile playing games on those respective platforms. Players can alsoconnect via the Internet for multiplayer online play, such as playingWorld of Warcraft on personal computers played among tens of thousandsof players simultaneously connected via the Internet.

Typically, individuals who wish to view play of these games either needto register as gaming participants, or to view play that has alreadybeen recorded by players and posted to video sites such as YouTube™

BRIEF SUMMARY

A simulated video game channel system allows users to connect theirvideo game consoles to a device, such as a set-top box, and to thenconnect with each over a gaming channel that is identified by anelectronic programming guide (EPG). Both audiovisual broadcast contentchannels and video game channels are displayed on the same EPG. A playermay either select a channel on the service provider network (e.g.,DirecTV™, Dish Network™) to play with other users in an existing game,or create a new channel to play a new game. An individual may eitherwatch the video game action or participate in the video game. A videogame channel may be either public viewable by all service providersubscribers, or private where only a subset of subscribers, for example,those subscribers invited to access the channel, are able to view orplay the game through the set-top box.

Furthermore, the audiovisual broadcast content viewed, and the videogames either viewed or played, may be analyzed to determinerelationships that may result in recommendations to the individual. Thisanalysis may take into account, for example, the name of the content orthe genre of the content. For example, a user may enjoy watching actionadventure movies, and the system would be able to recommend video gamechannels the user may either watch or play related to action-adventuregames.

In addition, this functionality may be implemented through one or moredatabases that track available content and usage either locally on theuser system, or regionally based on databases accessible through acommunications network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows one implementation of a user interacting with audiovisualbroadcast content and with a video game channel using a video gameconsole and a set-top box.

FIG. 2 shows one implementation of a number of users with set-top boxesinteracting with audiovisual broadcast content and with video gamechannel content through the communications network, with differentgroups of users involved in private channels.

FIG. 3 shows one implementation of an electronic programming guide thatdescribes both audiovisual broadcast content and video game channelcontent.

FIG. 4 shows one implementation of a local video game database thatresides locally on a user's receiving device.

FIG. 5 shows one implementation of an online video game database that isaccessible via a communications network.

FIGS. 6A-6B shows one implementation of a flow diagram for creating,connecting to, and managing one or more video game channels that may bedesignated either public or private.

FIG. 7 shows one implementation of a flow diagram for building a localelectronic programming guide

FIGS. 8A-8B show implementations of a flow diagram for creating a publicvideo game channel and a private video game channel.

FIG. 9 shows an implementation of a flow diagram for determining andpresenting recommendations for audiovisual content based on video gamechannels viewed or played.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of one implementation of a computingenvironment for systems and methods of providing a simulated video gamechannel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 contains diagram 500 that shows one implementation of a simulatedvideo game channel. A user 20 is able to communicate with set-top box 30using remote control 22 over remote control communication link 32. Theuser 20 is also able to communicate with video game console 26 usingvideo game controller 24 that is connected to the console. In oneexample implementation, the video game console 26 is connected to theset-top box 30. The television display 28 is connected to the set-topbox 30, and is able to display audiovisual broadcast content informationreceived by the set-top box 30 from communications network 36. Examplesof a communications network 36 includes audiovisual broadcast contentthat is provided by content distributors such as Dish Network™ andDirecTV™

The communications network 36 also provides information in the form ofan electronic programming guide 34 that describes the name, in additionto other information, about audiovisual programs that are available ondifferent channels at various time slots. By viewing electronicprogramming guide 34, a user 20 is able to determine what programs areavailable for desire viewing.

In addition, the electronic programming guide 34 may also containinformation about video game channels that are available for the user 20either view or to play. In this way, the user 20 is able to view theelectronic programming guide 34 and to get information on channelsavailable to the user 20 either watching audiovisual broadcast contentor watching or playing video games.

The user 20 is able to connect video game console 26 to a set-top box 30and to control the video game console 26 using video game controller 24.In different implementations, a single device may be used to controlboth the video game console 26 and the set-top box 30. In otherimplementations, these devices may be combined into one unit. In stillother implementations, the user 20 is able to connect laptops, PCs,smart phones, tablets or any other device to the set-top box 30 in orderto simulate a channel, displayable on an electronic program guide 34,that shows video game action as a channel.

For example, multiplayer games, such as those played using a video gamesubscription service 38, which may or may not be different from theaudiovisual broadcast content distribution service, connected to acommunications network 36, may allow player interaction with other videogame subscribers that would like to either play or watch the action ofthe video games on one or more channels. An example of a video gamesubscription service 38 is the Xbox™ live service. By connecting thevideo game console 26 to the set-top box 30, the set-top box 30 willmanage to connect all the players to the same video game throughcommunications network 36, and to display the action to the individualuser on television display 28. The action as displayed will beassociated with the channel that may be accessed through the electronicprogramming guide 34 as a regular channel. In one implementation, avideo game channel may have one of two types of profiles: public andprivate. A public profile video game channel can be watched by othersubscribers even if they are not connected to play the video game. Aprivate profile channel can be accessed only by a user 20 that createdthe channel with the private profile, and by those that have receivedand have accepted an invitation from the channel creator.

Information about all video game channels, including public and privatechannels, may be stored in an online video game database 42 to which allvideo distribution service subscribers have access.

Additional databases, such as a local database that is internal toset-top box 30, or a local video game database 40, is included andcontains information related to the video game channels and theassociated user 20. In one or more implementations, the local videogaming database 40 contains only the public channels and the privatechannels to which the user 20 has access. In other implementations,information about the video games associated with each channel areincluded, including information such as genre, participants, e.g.,people playing the game, game type, etc. This information may bepresented on the television display 28.

Some or all of this information may also be found on the online videogaming database 42. The online video gaming database 42 and local videogaming database 40 may synchronize periodically in order to add newpublic channels that exist in the online video gaming database 42 butnot in all of the local video gaming database 40 databases yet. Forexample, the local video gaming database 40 may contain a listing of allof the available public video game channels, the private video gamechannels created by the user 20, and the private channels to which theuser 20 has been invited and has accepted. For example, when user 20creates a public profile channel, this information is sent overcommunications network 36 to the online video gaming database 42. Insome implementations, a flag in the online video gaming database 42database may indicate that channels need to be updated, for example,that the information about the newly created channel needs to be pushedto each user's 20 set-top box 30 so that the information can be includedin the local video gaming database 40. For example, a database fieldtitled “last update” in the local video gaming database 40 may indicatethe last time the video game channels were updated.

In some implementations, the set-top box 30 will use information in thelocal video gaming database 40 to build the video game channels in theelectronic programming guide information 34. In order to do this, theset-top box 30, may combine event information, for example from EventInformation Tables sent with linear programming via communicationsnetwork 36 or included as metadata with events, such as withvideo-on-demand (VOD) movies or other programming. This is describedfurther below.

Both the online video gaming database 42 and local video gaming database40 contain information regarding the genres of different video games.This information may be used by a recommendation engine in order torecommend other video games or audiovisual broadcast programming eventsfrom a service provider. Note that audiovisual broadcast events may comefrom satellite networks, cable networks, internet protocol televisionnetworks, terrestrial broadcast television and the like. For example, ifuser 20 either joins, plays, or watches a video game such as JurassicPark™, then the recommendation engine may flag movies or otheraudiovisual programming events that are tagged with the genres ofadventure, sci-fi or action, and recommend them to the user 20.

In other implementations, a user 20 may be offered a specialcommunication channel to enable the user 20 to communicate with otherplayers playing a video game identified with a channel in electronicprogramming guide information 34. This communication channel may bepublic, e.g., visible to all players, or private, e.g., only visible tosome other participants. The players may be able to talk with each otherwhile the communication channel carries the audio. In otherimplementations, a player can talk to other players and the audiocommunication is translated into text messages that would be displayedon the television display 28.

FIG. 2 contains a diagram 550 that shows a multiuser environment forplaying games using a simulated video channel. Individual users 50 a-50f are associated with individual set-top boxes 52 a-52 f implementing atleast part of the simulated video channel. Other example implementationhardware is also shown as a tablet 52 g, personal computer 52 h, andsmart phone 52 i. Examples of local video gaming databases 54 a-54 e arealso shown. As described above, users 50 a-50 f, are able to create newvideo game channels that are either public or private. Public video gamechannels are able to be viewed by all set-top boxes 52 a-52 f. Privatevideo game channels are only able to be viewed by the private channelcreator, in addition to any other user who has received and accepted aninvitation to join the video game channel.

FIG. 2 shows example configurations of users involved in one or moreprivate channels. Each of set-top boxes 52 a-52 f belonging to users 50a-50 f are connected through a communications network 36. In oneexample, a user 50 a has created a video game channel, has invitedanother user 50 b to join that channel, and the invitation was accepted.This creates a channel that is a private channel involving only thesetwo users 50 a, 50 b and is identified in the figure by a dashed circle48 a. In this example, other users 50 c-50 f are not able to view theprivate channel as a part of the electronic programming guideinformation 34 or gain access to the contents of the video game channelfor either viewing or playing. In some implementations, the privatechannel indicates who may join the video game on a video game channel,but others outside of the private channel may be able to view the videogame play.

Similarly, dashed circle 48 b shows an analogous example of a privatechannel between two users 50 b and 50 c. In this example, one user 50 bis a member of two different private channels, where each of the otherusers 50 a and 50 c are members of only one private channel.

FIG. 3 is a diagram 600 that shows an example of electronic programmingguide information 34 that is received from one or more sources 58 froman audiovisual distributor, a broadcaster or content provider, forexample, Dish Network™ or DirecTV™, via communications network 36. Inone or more implementations, the sources include event informationtables 58 a received from linear services, which include programming foreach channel that is sent in real time that allows a user 20 to tuneinto a specific channel and immediately view the content received onthat channel. Another source includes event information tables that areincluded as metadata for video-on-demand items 58 b, which includesprogramming that is not received in a linear way, but instead isspecified such as by a selection from a menu for downloading and/orimmediate watching. Yet another source includes event information tables58 c from the local video gaming database 40. This source includes eventinformation with respect to video game channels that are available foreither viewing or for play for a user 20 associated with a set-top box30. In other embodiments, event information tables from online videogaming database 42 may also be included.

In addition, rich media information 58 d may also be provided topopulate electronic program guide 34. This rich media may include logosand event pictures that visually depict an event or identify a channelby, for example, using a trademark logo to identify the event orchannel. In addition, various genres may be identified visually by theuse of logos or graphics. For example, associated with electronicprogram guide 34, a channel designator 60 may include a specific channelnumber, or could be augmented with a logo representing the contentprovider associated with that channel. For example, a picture of MickeyMouse™ associated with the Disney Channel.

The main portion of the electronic program guide 34 includes a list ofevents that occur in various time slots in a particular channel 60. Eachevent is graphically represented as existing in the timeslot. Forexample, the audiovisual event on channel 102 “Comedy 1” 64 will endbefore the audiovisual event on channel 103 “Comedy 1” 66 ends. At thelower part of the electronic program guide 34 there are two video gamechannels 62 listed. The first is “video game channel 1” 68 associatedwith channel 1001, and is a public video game channel, meaning that anysubscriber to the video distribution service, e.g., DirecTV™ or DishNetwork™, may view that video game channel. The second is video gamechannel 2 70 associated with channel 1002, which is a private channel,meaning that only the channel creator are those that have accepted aninvitation to join the channel by the channel creator are able to viewthe channel.

FIG. 4 shows diagram 650 of one implementation of the structure andcontents of the local video game database 40. In one or moreimplementations, the local video gaming database 40 resides withinset-top box 30, which is connected to video game console 26. Both areable to communicate via communications network 36.

The electronic programming guide channel ID 74 identifies the numericchannel associated with any particular video game channel. Next, thevideo game ID 76 uniquely identifies the video games being played. Thismay be done through a description of the game name, e.g., “FinalFantasy”, through an abbreviation “FINF” or through a graphical image(not shown). In addition, the video game ID 76 may also identify thevideo game console that is used for play, for example, Xbox™ orPlayStation™

The next column represents profile type 78, which may be either publicor private. A public channel indicates that any member of the videodistribution subscription service is able to view the gameplay on thechannel. A private channel indicates that the channel creator hasinvited one or more users to participate in the video game channel andthese users have accepted the invitation. Genre 80 describes the one ormore genres describing the video game. For example, the game “FinalFantasy” falls under the genre fantasy, the game “The Sims” falls underthe genre economy, “FIFA Football” falls under the genre sports, and“Halo” falls under the genres sci-fi and combat. The next column,actors/participants 82, describes a list of those users who areparticipating in the gaming experience. These participants may beidentified by a unique user ID, by email name, by full name, or by oneor more names they are known by within one or more video games, e.g.,“Scullkiller.” The maximum number of players 84 indicates the maximumnumber of active participants in gameplay that are allowed. When thisnumber is exceeded, no additional players are allowed to join. Instead,they may be allowed to view the video game play until a player dropsout, at which time another player may join.

The next column, game type 86, identifies the type of game that is beingplayed. The examples given here are role-playing, simulation, sports andreal-time strategy. The final column, last update 88, describes the dateat which the information for the corresponding channel ID was lastupdated.

FIG. 5 shows diagram 700 of one implementation of the structure andcontents of the online video game database 42. In one or moreimplementations, the online video gaming database 42 resides outside ofthe set-top box 30 as a cloud-based drive accessible via communicationsnetwork 36.

The electronic programming guide (EPG) channel ID 90 identifies thenumeric channel associated with any particular video game channel. Inone or more implementations, a predefined range of numbers may be usedto identify public and private video game channels within electronicprogram guide 34. For example, a range of channel IDs 2000-2999 may bedefined for public video game channels while a channel ID range of3000-3399 is defined for private video game channels.

Next, the video game ID 92 uniquely identifies the video games beingplayed. This may be done through a description of the game name, e.g.,“Final Fantasy”, through an abbreviation of “FINF,” or through agraphical image (not shown).

In addition, the video game ID 92 may also identify the video gameconsole that is used for play, for example, Xbox™ or PlayStation™

The next column represents profile type 94, which may be either publicor private. A public channel indicates that any member of the videodistribution subscription service is able to view the gameplay on thechannel. A private channel indicates that the channel creator hasinvited one or more users to participate in the video game channel andthese users have accepted the invitation. Genre 96 describes the one ormore genres describing the video game. For example, the game “FinalFantasy” falls under the genre fantasy, the game “The Sims” falls underthe genre economy, “FIFA Football” falls under the genre sports, and“Halo” falls under the genres sci-fi and combat. The next column,actors/participants 98, describes a list of those users who areparticipating in the gaming experience. These participants may beidentified by a unique user ID, by email name, by full name, or by oneor more names they are known by within one or more video games, e.g.,“Scullkiller.” The maximum number of players 100 indicates the maximumnumber of active participants in gameplay that are allowed. When thisnumber is exceeded, no additional players are allowed to join. Instead,they may be allowed to view the video game play until a player dropsout, at which time another player may join.

The next column, game type 102, identifies the type of game that isbeing played. The examples given here are role-playing, simulation,sports, music and real-time strategy. The final column, “needs to beupdated” 104, indicates whether updates to the information described foreach EPG channel ID 90 need to be pushed to the individual local videogaming databases 40 located at each set-top box.

FIGS. 6A-6B show flow diagrams 750 and 800 that describe animplementation of a flow diagram for identifying a video game channelfor play, or for creating a public video game channel. Starting withFIG. 6A and flow diagram 750, the method starts at step 110.

At step 112, the video game console 26 is connected to the set-top box30. In one or more implementations, this may take the form of either ahardwired connection between the 2 components, or may take the form of awireless connection such as a Bluetooth, infrared, or Wi-Fi connection.

At step 114, data is extracted about the video game that is running inthe video game console 26. This data may be extracted by querying thevideo game software itself, or may be entered manually by the video gameuser into a user interface display. This data includes one or more datafields such as video game ID, genre, maximum number of players, gametype, etc., that appear as fields in either the online video gamingdatabase 42 or local video gaming database 40.

At step 116, the method checks if there are invitations to the user 20to join any private channels. If there are no invitations, then themethod continues to step 130 of FIG. 6B. If there are invitations, thenat step 118 the user is prompted to join the private channel. At step120 if the user accepts the invitation, then at step 124 the user joinsthe private channel, which may include sending an acknowledgement bycommunication back to the individual who invited the user 20 to join thechannel. At step 126, the online video gaming database and local videogaming database are updated to include the new participant. At step 127,if the user wishes to join another channel, then the method moves tostep 122. Otherwise at 129 the method ends.

If the user does not accept the invitation to join, then at step 122 themethod determines if there are more invitations to join a privatechannel. If so, the method moves to step 118. If not, then the methodcontinues to step 130 of FIG. 6B.

FIG. 6B shows flow diagram 800 that describes the creation of a publicvideo game channel, creation of a private video game channel and a userjoining a public channel. The method starts at 128 (connector A).

At step 130, the method determines if there is a public video gamechannel in the local video gaming database that the user wishes toeither view or play. For example, the user 20 may connect the video gameconsole 26 to the set-top box 30 and request to play “Final Fantasy.” Ifso, the method proceeds to step 132 to determine whether the user wantsto join the public channel as either a viewer or a game player. Forexample, to determine if there are public video game channels wherepeople are already playing “Final Fantasy.” If not, the method proceedsto step 134. If so, then at step 142 the method joins the user to thepublic channel, and at step 144 updates the online video gaming databaseand local video gaming database to include the user as a newparticipant, and the method ends at step 154.

At step 134, the method determines whether the user wants to create anew public channel, for example, to play the game “Final Fantasy.” Inone or more embodiments, any user that subscribes to the videodistribution service has a right to create a video game channel. If so,at step 136 the method creates a new public channel. In the example, theuser 20 will begin to play the game “Final Fantasy.” At step 138, thechannel is added to the local video gaming database and online videogaming database, and at step 140 the channel is added to the localelectronic programming guide. At this point, all other subscribers ofthe video distribution service will be able to watch the Final Fantasygame being played by the user 20 by selecting the channel indicated bythe EPG. At step 154, the method ends.

At step 146, the method determines whether the user wants to create aprivate channel. If so, at step 148 the method creates a new privatechannel. At step 150, the method adds the channel to the local videogaming database and online video gaming database, and at step 152 themethod adds the private video game channel to the local electronicprogramming guide. Similarly to the public channel creation describedabove, this sequence of method steps would create a private video gamechannel for the user 20, which could only be accessed by other users ifuser 20 specifically invited them to view and/or play on the privatevideo game channel. At step 153, the user invites other participants tojoin the channel.

At step 154, the method ends.

FIG. 7 shows diagram 900 which is one implementation of a flow diagramfor building a local electronic programming guide 34. The method startsat step 170. At step 172, the method starts the television receiver. Inone or more implementations, this is the set-top box 30 that receivesaudiovisual content from the content distributor that includes the localvideo gaming database 40 and access to the online video gaming database42 over communications network 36.

At step 174, the method checks the local video gaming database andonline video gaming database video game databases to retrieve availablevideo game channels.

At step 176, the method checks if there are filters with preferences ofvideo game channels to be included in the electronic programming guide.In one or more implementations, these filters are settings that may becustomized by the user 20 by manually entering these filters into a userpreferences database, or having the method analyze the user's 20audiovisual viewing habits and/or video game channel viewing and playinghabits.

At step 178, the local electronic programming guide is built bycombining the electronic programming guide data for audiovisual contentchannels with the retrieved video game channels.

At step 180, the method ends.

FIG. 8A shows flow diagram 950 which is one implementation of a flowdiagram for the interplay between the online video gaming database andlocal video gaming database databases when creating a public video gamechannel. At step 200, the method starts.

At step 202, the user indicates that a public video game channel is tobe created.

At step 204, the method includes the newly created public video gamechannel in the local video game database 40.

At step 206, information about the newly created video game channel ispushed to the online video gaming database 42 and the “Needs To BeUpdated” data entry in the corresponding database record associated withthe newly created video game is set to “Yes.” This signals the methodthat the information in the online video gaming database 42 needs to bepushed to all other local video gaming database databases.

At step 208, the method pushes the newly updated information in theonline video gaming database to all other local video gaming databasesthat are connected via the communications network 36.

At step 210, the newly created video game channel information isincluded in the local video gaming database databases, and the localelectronic programming guide information 34 associated with set-top box30 is updated to reflect the new information.

The method ends at step 220.

FIG. 8B shows flow diagram 1000 which is one implementation of a flowdiagram for the interplay between the online video gaming database andlocal video gaming database databases when creating a private video gamechannel. At step 240, the method starts.

At step 242, the user indicates that a private video game channel is tobe created.

At step 244, the method includes the newly created private video gamechannel in the local video game database 40.

At step 246, information about the newly created video game channel ispushed to the online video gaming database 42 and the “Needs To BeUpdated” data entry in the corresponding database record associated withthe newly created video game is set to “Yes.” This signals the methodthat the information in the online video gaming database 42 needs to bepushed to other local video gaming database databases.

At step 248, the method provides for the initiator of the private videogame channel to send invitations to join the channel to other users. Inone or more implementations, these invitations may take the form of anemail with a key that authorizes the invitee to join the privatechannel, which the invitee uses to accept the invitation.

At step 250, if the user accepts the invitation, then the newly createdprivate channel is included in the local video game database 40 withinthe set-top box of the user that has accepted the invitation.

At step 252, the method ends.

FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram 1050 of one implementation of providingrecommendations for audiovisual broadcast content to a user based on theuser's video game playing and viewing history. At step 260, the methodstarts.

At step 262, the method receives video game playing and viewing historyof the user 20. In one or more implementations, the video game channelplaying and viewing history is tracked by the user's set-top box 30. Inother implementations, the video game playing and viewing history may betracked by the video game console 26, which may provide history data tothe set-top box 30.

At step 264, the method analyzes the received history of the user'svideo game playing and viewing habits.

At step 266, the method determines, based on the received history,recommended audiovisual content. This may include broadcast content thatcorresponds to a subscription service from a television contentprovider. For example, if the user 20 plays predominantly sci-fi andadventure games such as “Halo”, then the method may recommend sci-fi andadventure TV shows such as Star Trek™ and movies such as Guardians ofthe Galaxy™ to the user 20.

At step 268, the method presents to the user indications of therecommended audiovisual content. In one or more embodiments, the user 20may be presented with an option to record the recommended content whenit becomes available, be presented with an option to begin watching therecommended content immediately, or an option to be reminded when therecommended content is available for viewing at a later date.

The method ends at 270.

In one or more alternative implementations, video game channels maybealso recommended based on the viewing habits of broadcast televisioncontent or on the viewing or playing habits on other video gamechannels.

FIG. 10 shows diagram 1100 of one implementation of a computing systemfor implementing a simulated video game channel system 310. FIG. 10includes a computing system 300 that may be utilized to implementsimulated video game channel system 310 with features and functions asdescribed above. One or more general-purpose or special-purposecomputing systems may be used to implement the simulated video gamechannel system 310. More specifically, the computing system 300 mayinclude one or more distinct computing systems present havingdistributed locations, such as within a set-top box, or within apersonal computing device. In addition, each block shown may representone or more such blocks as appropriate to a specific embodiment or maybe combined with other blocks. Moreover, the various blocks of thesimulated video game channel system 310 may physically reside on one ormore machines, which may use standard inter-process communicationmechanisms (e.g., TCP/IP) to communicate with each other. Further, thesimulated video game channel system 310 may be implemented in software,hardware, firmware or in some combination to achieve the capabilitiesdescribed herein.

In the embodiment shown, computing system 300 includes a computer memory312, a display 28, one or more Central Processing Units (“CPUs”) 380,input/output devices 382 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, joystick, track pad,LCD display, smart phone display, tablet and the like), othercomputer-readable media 384 and network connections 386 (e.g., Internetnetwork connections or connections to audiovisual content distributors).In other embodiments, some portion of the contents of some or all of thecomponents of the simulated video game channel system 310 may be storedon and/or transmitted over other computer-readable media 384 or overnetwork connections 386. The components of the simulated video gamechannel system 310 preferably execute on one or more CPUs 380 to create,manage and update the video game channels that are integrated withelectronic programming guide information for audiovisual broadcastcontent, and to perform user habit analysis to determine recommendedaudiovisual events based on the users 20 video game watching or playingactivity. Other code or programs 388 (e.g., a Web server, a databasemanagement system, and the like), and potentially one or more other datarepositories 320, also reside in the computer memory 312, and preferablyexecute on one or more CPUs 380. Not all of the components in FIG. 10are required for each implementation. For example, some embodimentsembedded in other software do not provide means for user input, fordisplay, for a customer computing system, or other components, such as,for example, a set-top box or other receiving device receivingaudiovisual content.

In a typical embodiment, the simulated video game channel system-310includes an EPG Integration Module 368, a video game database managermodule 370 and a video game habits module 372. Audiovisual broadcastevent content, including electronic programming guide (EPG) informationis received from an audiovisual content provider 340, which may beprovided by a network connection 386 or via satellite downlink 338. Thevideo game database manager module 370 receives information from user20, from the online video game database 42 and the local video gamedatabase 40 and appropriately synchronizes the databases across systems.The video game habits module 372 acquires and analyzes user 20 videogame habits in order to determine recommendations for audiovisualcontent to present the user 20 at a later time. Other and/or differentmodules may be implemented. The simulated video game channel system 310also, in some embodiments, contains the user preference database 360,which includes information to determine relevant filters to apply whencreating information to be stored in the local EPG 330. In addition, thesimulated video game channel system 310 interacts with communicationsnetwork 36 in communicating with the video game subscription service 38,and in one or more implementations video game console 26, and electronicprogram guide 34.

The EPG integration module 368 performs at least some of the functionsof EPG integration described with reference to FIGS. 1, 6A-6B and 8A-8B.In particular, the EPG integration module 368 interacts with electronicprogramming guide information 34 received from communications network 36that reflects electronic programming guide information for audiovisualbroadcast events received from the audiovisual content provider 340,e.g., DirecTV™ or Dish Network™. It also interacts with the online videogaming database 42 and local video gaming database 40 to receiveinformation to populate the local EPG 330 with video game channels thatare available to the user 20 to either view or to play. This way, thelocal EPG 330 has an integrated listing of audiovisual broadcast events,video-on-demand events, and video game channels available to the user.

The video game database manager module 370 performs at least some of thefunctions of database management described with reference to FIGS. 1 and3-8. The module takes video game channel creation information from user20, and uses that information to update the local video gaming database40 and the online video gaming database 42 to ensure consistent andaccurate EPG information with respect to video game channels areavailable throughout the network. Similarly, the video game databasemanager module 370 makes sure that changes reflected in the online videogaming database 42 are propagated to the local video gaming database 40.

The video game habits module 372 performs at least some of the functionsof collecting and analyzing video game watching and playing habits of auser 20 as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 9. The video gamehabits module 372 gathers and analyzes the video game channel viewingand playing habits of the user 20. In one or more implementations, thismay include video games played on video game console 26 in directconnection to a video game subscription service 38 accessed viacommunications network 36 and not going through a set-top box 30. Inother implementations, it includes video games that are watched orplayed using the simulated video game channel system implemented, forexample, on set-top box 30. This module uses the gathered information todetermine and to recommend to the user 20 the audiovisual broadcastcontent events or video-on-demand events that the user might be the mostinterested in viewing. In one or more implementations, this modulepresents the recommendation to the user either by immediately playingthe recommended content, offering to record recommended content, oroffering to remind user 20 when the content is available at a laterdate.

The video game habits module 372 may consider not only the title of thevideo games that have been played by the user 20, but also considerother attributes of the video games for example, by examining one ormore genres of the video games to determine the user's 20 interest inthat genre and to use that in the audiovisual recommendation. Inaddition, the module may also consider how the user 20 engages in thegame, for example, if the user only views certain genres of games butactively participates in other genres. This is meant to be onenon-limiting example of video game attributes that may be used by thismodule.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. All of the U.S. patents, U.S. patent applicationpublications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patentapplications and non-patent publications referred to in thisspecification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet areincorporated herein by reference, in their entirety. Aspects of theembodiments can be modified, if necessary to employ concepts of thevarious patents, applications and publications to provide yet furtherembodiments.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for providing a video gamechannel, comprising: a set-top box; a processor connected to the set-topbox; a display connected to the set-top box; a communications networkconnected to the processor; and a non-transitory computer-readablememory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to: receive an identification of a user; receive, from thecommunications network, an electronic programming guide, the guideincluding selections of audiovisual broadcast content channels and videogame channels; display the received electronic programming guide to theuser; receive, from the user, a request to access a video game channelfrom the displayed electronic programming guide; determine, based on thereceived request, access rights of the user to the video game channel;present, based on the determined access rights, the video game channelto the user; and display, to the user, indications of audiovisualcontent related to the requested video game channel.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein receiving from the user the request to access the videogame channel, further includes: determining, based on the received useridentification, private video game channels available to the user; anddetermining, based on the received user identification, public videogame channels available to the user.
 3. The system of claim 2, whereinpresenting the video game channel to the user further incudes: if thereceived video game channel selection includes a request from the userto play on the video game channel and the determined access rights ofthe user to the video game channel allow the user to play on the videogame channel, then: receiving video gaming inputs from a video gamingdevice; sending the received video gaming inputs to the communicationsnetwork; receiving from the communications network audiovisual contentof the video game channel; and outputting the audiovisual content of thevideo game channel.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving from theuser the request to access the video game channel further includes:receiving, from the user, a request to create a video game channel, therequest including whether the channel is a public or private channel. 5.The system of claim 4, wherein receiving from the user the request toaccess the video game channel further includes: if the channel is aprivate channel, receiving, from the user, a list of other users to haveaccess to the created video game channel, the list including accessrights of each of the other users to the created video game channel;creating the channel as a private video game channel; updating theaccess rights of each of the other users to the created private videogame channel; and storing the access rights of each of the users.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein updating the access rights of each of theother users further includes for each user: sending an invitation to theuser to join the private video game channel; and receiving anacknowledgement from the user.
 7. The system of claim 4, whereinreceiving from the user the request to access the video game channelfurther includes: if the channel is a public channel, creating thechannel as a public channel.
 8. A method, comprising: receiving, from acommunications network, contents of an electronic programing guide, theprogramming guide including indications of multiple channels thatinclude audiovisual broadcast channels and a video game channel; sendingthe contents of the electronic programming guide for display to aviewer; receiving, from the viewer, an indication of the video gamechannel; receiving, from the communications network, content of thevideo game channel; sending the content of the video game channel to theviewer.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: receiving, fromthe viewer, an indication of whether the viewer wishes to play a videogame associated with the video game channel; and if the viewer wishes toplay the video game associated with the video game channel: receiving,from the viewer, an identification of the viewer; sending, by thecommunications network, the identification of the viewer to a video gameprovider of the video game; receiving, by the communications network, anindication of whether the viewer is allowed to play the video game; andif the viewer is allowed to play the video game: receiving from theviewer, video game commands, sending, by the communications network, thereceived video game commands, receiving, by the communications network,audiovisual content in response to the sent video game commands, andsending the received audiovisual content to the viewer.
 10. The methodof claim 8, further comprising: determining one or more audiovisualbroadcast content items that are related to the video game channel; andsending an indication of the one or more audiovisual broadcast contentitems to the viewer.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:receiving, from the viewer, an indication of an audiovisual broadcastchannel; determining one or more video game channels that are related toan audiovisual content event of the indicated audiovisual broadcastchannel; and sending an indication of the one or more video gamechannels to the viewer.